I participated in a panel on Sunday night at the Bridge Community Church: Exploring Worship Traditions.  There were five panelists: Alan Shore (Messianic Judaism), Lawrence Farley (Russian Orthodox), James Hughes (Roman Catholic), Scott McTaggart (Nondenominational), and myself (Christian Reformed).  We got to talk about worship for a couple of hours.  It was interesting, invigorating and humbling.

Interesting because I learned so much.  Did you know the Orthodox liturgy has been essentially the same for 1000 years?  Did you know its a regular practice of Southgate Church to have members who write songs for the congregation to sing?  Messianic Jews sing and dance in worship with a Hebrew flair.  Western Roman Catholics eat leavened bread but use unleavened bread for Eucharist; Eastern Roman Cathoics eat unleavened bread but use leavened bread for Eucharist.  Interesting. 

And invigorating.  It was so cool to see the body of Christ in its varied expressions.  The church is this multi-hued kaleidoscope of believers joined in giving glory to God.  God must be way pleased to have his children raise their voices in different ways to honour him.   

And it was a humbling experience.  We are part of something way, way, way bigger than ourselves.  It impressed me that there are more similarities between us than differences.  I was humbled to share in this panel of brothers committed to conveying the grace of God.  Yes, we use our voices, our bodies, our senses, our minds in different ways in worship.  Yes, we each emphasize some aspect of faith and life in our own unique ways.  We do different actions, but each action is an act of worship.  We sing, we speak, we chant, we dance, we baptize, we eat and drink the truth.  Moved by the Holy Spirit in different ways we tell the world and ourselves that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God our Father.

To God be all the glory, for his church, for his people.